Rebuilding Japan

One year after a 9.0-magnitude earthquake and resulting tsunami struck mainland Japan, CemWeek takes a look at the disaster's lingering effects on the Japanese cement industry, including the key role cement companies played in ridding the island of nearly 25 million tons of debris.

On 11 March 2011 at 14:46 pm local time, a devastating 9.0-magnitude earthquake hit the northeastern coast of Honshu, the main island of Japan. The earthquake unleashed several massive tsunami waves with highs up to 20 feet. The toll was devastating, with widespread damage and destruction and tens of thousands of dead and missing.

The three worst-hit prefectures, Miyagi, Fukushima, and Iwate, were left under 20 to 25 million tons of building debris, amounting to decades-worth of waste that the prefectures were ill-prepared to dispose of. With 11 of the affected region's 55 nuclear power units off-line and supplies of oil, gas and coal often unable to be delivered as scheduled, power supply has also been seriously affected by the disaster, with frequent (and partly scheduled) power cuts happening across the nation.

Read the rest of the article in the CemWeek Magazine issue 8.